1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to a heating cooker, and, more particularly, to a convection heating cooker unit, which implements a convection heater to generate heat and a convection fan to blow the heat generated from the convection heater into a cooking chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, heating cookers used to cook food are basically classified, based on heating sources thereof, into a gas cooker using gas burning heat and an electric cooker using electric energy. The electric cookers may again be classified into electric heating types to cook food using heat generated from an electric heating element, induction heating types using eddy current, and high-frequency types to heat food by permeating microwaves, generated from a super-high-frequency oscillator, into food or contents of the cooker.
A heating cooker using electricity may employ any one of the following types: electric heating, induction heating, and high-frequency, or may mix two or three of the types, for example.
One example of a heating cooker using electricity is discussed in Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0686035 (registered on Feb. 15, 2007). Here, the discussed heating cooker is a microwave oven having a convection heating unit.
In this heating cooker, the convection heating unit is installed at a side of a cooking chamber, to heat and circulate air inside the cooking chamber. The convection heating unit includes a convection heater to generate heat, a convection fan to forcibly blow heated air, a convection motor to drive the convection fan, and a convection housing to receive the convection heater and the convection fan therein. The convection heater has a circular shape, and the convection fan is installed inside the circular convection heater.
Since the convection fan used to blow hot air into the cooking chamber is installed inside the circular convection heater, this conventional heating cooker has problems in that the heat generated from the convection heater is directly transmitted to the convection fan, and also easily transmitted further to the convection motor used to drive the convection fan. Therefore, the convection motor is easily heated, resulting in a high risk of heat damage to the motor.
To prevent such damage to the convection motor, a sufficient amount of heat-insulating material should be used to protect the convection motor, or a motor having a high heat-resistant level should be used. However, this results in an excessive increase in manufacturing costs.
Further, in the conventional heating cooker, the convection housing is configured to receive the convection fan and the convection heater disposed in the same plane, and a side surface of the housing, to which the convection fan is installed, has a flat plate shape. With this configuration, the convection motor driving the convection fan protrudes rearward from the convection fan, causing an increase in the overall width of the convection heating unit.
When a cooling fan is provided behind the convection motor to cool the convection motor to prevent such damage to the convection motor the width of the convection heating unit is still further increased.